Alex Cora knows what his role is supposed to be for the Mets this season.

“My first name is actually Jose,” said Jose Alex Cora. “But I’m not trying to be Jose Reyes. You don’t try to be somebody you’re not.”

In the Mets’ 7-1 Opening Day victory over the Marlins at Citi Field yesterday, Cora was good enough, while Reyes begins the season on the disabled list after his battle with a thyroid condition.

“I did my job,” said Cora, who led off the bottom of the first by getting hit by a pitch and then made all the defensive plays required behind Johan Santana — including one nice effort on a Cody Ross grounder to start the third.

“I consider myself a good defensive shortstop,” said Cora, who also drove in the Mets’ final run of their four-run sixth. “I respect the stats, but there’s a lot of stuff going on that whoever is punching the numbers in don’t understand. It’s positioning and scouting reports.”

But that doesn’t mean he is deaf to the criticism.

“One of the things I heard all off-season was, ‘He can’t play defense,’ ” Cora said. “I’ve been playing in the big leagues for 12 years and it’s not because I’m a .300 hitter.”

He came into this season with just a .246 career batting average. He also hasn’t played more than 96 games since 2004.

So while no one wants Cora to be the Mets’ starting shortstop or leadoff hitter for an extended period of time, he’s confident he can be solid until Reyes’ return.

“I just want to catch everything hit to me and try to grind out at-bats until he comes back,” said Cora, who said he had never batted leadoff before, but did yesterday in Jerry Manuel’s makeshift lineup. “I hope Jose gets here this weekend, but whenever it is, I just want us to be in a good spot.”

At least some of that will be on how Cora holds up in Reyes’ absence.

“Last year was bad for everybody,” Cora said. “Including myself. We all showed at least a little of what we could do [yesterday].”